The Avengers Vol. 4 #10Review

Share.

The Avengers race The Hood for the remaining Infinity Gems.

By Jesse Schedeen

After a strong showing last month, Avengers #10 unfortunately slips down a few notches. Those waiting for the big showdown between the Avengers and the amped-up Hood will find these pages too slow and plodding. Issue #10 sees various groups split up to retrieve the remaining Infinity Gems before Hood can locate them. It's fun to watch the Illuminati navigate their own carefully laid traps, but only in the case of Namor's gem did Brian Michael Bendis focus on the scene in question long enough. The rest of the issue is taken up by plenty of character banter and arguments. A scene involving Noh-Varr questioning Spider-Man's humor fell pretty flat. Bendis' Noh-Varr is portrayed as a little too dumb and naive for his own good. However, the newly tense interaction between Iron Man and Steve Rogers continues to be a highlight of the arc. Hopefully these two will be allowed their final clashing of heads by the end.

Sadly, issue #10 is the most disappointing chapter of the series from a visual standpoint. John Romita Jr.'s pencils are all over the map in terms of quality. His scenes of Namor, Red Hulk, and Thor navigating the ocean depths are some of the best of the series. Other times, his character renderings are so haphazard that it becomes difficult to distinguish one Avenger from another. The inking and coloring aren't terribly consistent either. The battle at the ruins of the Xavier Institute is derailed by unnecessarily heavy inking and flat coloring. Issue #9 proved the series can offer better in both art and story structure, and I hope it will again before this arc wraps up.